Targeting Valuable Shoppers

Thu, 2010-03-25 01:43

An interesting presentation was given this morning by Grant LaMontagne, senior vice president and chief customer officer of The Clorox Co.

In addition to sharing interesting facts about the charcoal category—such as 80% of consumers make their second charcoal purchase of the season the same place where they made their first (good to know since $60 in incremental sales is usually attached)—he discussed ways in which marketers of the future might target relevant consumers in a very personalized way.

In one hypothetical scenario LaMontagne's wireless network provider, AT&T, might notice through signals bouncing off cell towers in different places around the world, that he's a frequent traveler. AT&T could then sell the information to American Airlines who could craft and offer a truly customized and very generous promotional plan since he's such a high profile consumer. Another way to reach shoppers would be via the Internet. "The race is on for IP addresses," said LaMontagne.

While the idea of receiving generous offers for relevant products sounds like a match made in heaven, the thought of a world in which brands monitor your daily life, and sometimes work together to do so, seems a bit scary.